With the reception of ashes on our foreheads, signifying repentance, renewal and a commitment to a more robust followership of Christ, we begin the Holy Season of Lent. Through fasting, prayer and almsgiving, we shall ascend to the Holy Mountain of Easter when we shall celebrate the triumph of our Lord Jesus Christ over sin and death and renew our hope in the resurrection of the body. Lent shall run from Ash Wednesday until the evening mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, which then begins the Sacred Paschal Triduum.

The First Reading on this First Sunday of Lent recalls when and how our first ancestors were tempted to disobey God and how evil, as a direct consequence of their disobedience, entered the world which was good when God created it. The serpent, who represents Satan the Tempter, approached Eve and managed to convince her to eat of the Tree of Knowledge against Divine prohibition.

The rainy weather impacted the ground work around the building this week. It did allow a good test of the modified roof drains that have been installed for the new roof lines of the building. Work did continue on the inside of the building by the mechanical team, the plumber installing the new sprinkler system and the framers. The overhead framing passed inspection. The arch window frames for the exterior windows have been created and are ready for installation.

The Gospel passage this weekend is a completion of the subunit in the “Sermon on the Mount” corpus where Jesus engaged His disciples in a discourse on the Law. This subunit can be found in Matthew 5:17-48 and deals with Jesus’ teaching of the irreplaceability of the Law of God which can be truly observed from the pure motive of love. In the first part of this subunit, Jesus makes use of four of the Commandments to deepen our understanding of the Law by insisting on, not only external observance of the Torah, but also on true internal conversion that admits only love as the genuine motive of the Law. Jesus completes the discourse on the Law, through critical examination and elucidation of two more articles of the Law, how the virtue of His would-be disciples must exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees, transcending external observances and mere religiosity to embrace true Christian Spirituality which aims at Holiness in radical imitation of God’s holiness.

We have mixed excitement. A lot of internal work continues, but it is limited to those of us who are allowed in the building. We will continue to post photos which will illustrate the work. A/C work along with framing continue.

The new crosses for the bell tower and the upper front (west end) of the building have arrived. We are waiting for the City to inspect and approve the flooring support so we can install the flooring and construct the roof of the bell tower on the ground before we use a crane to lift it. Then we can install the large cross on top of the roof.

After listening to Jesus’ teaching on the Beatitudes and hearing Him use the strong and very consequential metaphors of salt and light to describe his would-be disciples, the audience of the “Sermon on the Mount’’ must have come to the realization that they were dealing with a special kind of teacher with undoubtedly revolutionary ideas about religion. They may have imagined that given the positive rendition of the Beatitudes, in contrast to the prohibitive nature of the decalogue, and given the manner he positioned His disciples as agents of a new world order, Jesus was probably going to abrogate the letters of the law and replace same with new and more revolutionary precepts that would be a more formidable vehicle for His very radical ideas.

The Gospel passage this weekend is taken from the “Sermon on the Mount” corpus, and immediately follows Jesus’ proclamation of the Beatitudes, the ordinary and necessary precepts for a true Christian life. St. Matthew recounts that Jesus ascended the mountain from where He taught the people who gathered around it in order to listen to Him.

Significant work continues on the interior of the church. The mechanical team continues installing the duct work for the new air conditioning. The Sanctuary has been poured. The steel roof support for both of the transepts have been installed. Soon all of the interior roof supports will be complete. The office remodel has made major progress. The demolition of the existing restrooms has been completed allowing for the existing restrooms to have similar decor to the new north restrooms.

Many of us have encountered politicians who try to convince us to vote them into public office by explaining to us what is wrong with the system, what they believe, and how they intend to make our lives better. Some of us have also identified with certain political parties or ideologies because of the manifestos that define and moderate their political worldview. We may also have been lured into relationships with businesses and corporations who got us through compelling advertisements of their mission statements that assured us of their position as our best option.

The framing of the Sacristy areas has begun.

The Sanctuary area is scheduled to have the concrete poured today, Friday at 5am. The trusses for the transepts are being constructed onsite. The Chapel area demolition is continuing.

Next week will be the start for a number of areas. The contents of the offices were moved out and stored so the upgrade can begin in that area. Also beginning, the saw-cutting of the block in the Narthex to allow space for the new air conditioning ductwork, and the site grading and curbing for the southside drop off.

From the year 2019, and following Pope Francis’ directives, the third Sunday of Ordinary Time of every year is set aside for the celebration of the Word of God. The purpose of this celebration is to re-emphasize the centrality and absolute importance of the Word of God, not only in the Liturgy of the Church, but also in our individual lives. We are urged to reflect on the joy of the Gospel and invited to lend and commit ourselves to the universal and joyful proclamation of and witnessing to the Gospel values knowing that the ultimate reward for faithfully sharing this joy in our world and time disproportionately outweighs whatever cost we may incur and have to bear in the process.

A new storage container has been ordered and delivered. This container will be utilized to move the office furniture into allowing the offices to be updated with new flooring, ceiling and lighting. The existing restroom will also be updated to match the new northside restrooms. The offices will be cleared out by Jan 26, with work beginning on Jan 27.

With the celebration of the Baptism of the Lord on Monday this week, we effectively brought to a close the Holy Season of Christmas. The Baptism of the Lord symbolizes the beginning of the public ministry of Jesus. On Tuesday, we were ushered into the first part of Ordinary Time which will continue until the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday when we shall begin the Season of Lent and celebrate Eastertide thereafter.

As the construction team is back in full force after the holidays, work continues to close in the building. The masons are completing their work on the building. They will then begin laying the block for our 2 signage walls on the north and south entries of the church parking lot, after the concrete footings are poured.

The pouring of the Sanctuary steps and flooring will begin within two weeks. Followed by the signage wall footings.

This weekend the Church celebrates the Epiphany of the Lord. Epiphany, or Theophany, is the self-revelation or manifestation of God to the world. The first chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel attempts a chronological demonstration of the authenticity of Jesus’ Messiahship by tracing His genealogy back to King David, and farther to the Patriarchs, thereby establishing not only Davidic descent but also His unbroken ancestral connection to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

In the Liturgy of the Catholic Church, the first day of every year is celebrated as the “Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God.” On this day, when we thank the Lord for the blessing of a new year and look forward in hope for an abundance of God’s gratuitous gifts, the Holy Church commends all of us to the unfailing maternal intercession of Mary, Mother of Our Divine Lord, and illuminates some of her virtues for us to imitate. With the Virgin Mother of God interceding for us, we can rest assured that God’s benevolence will find us.